


Lead me home

by kenkatsuki



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-01 06:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10915785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenkatsuki/pseuds/kenkatsuki
Summary: Overthrown cars. Old litter everywhere you looked. Abandonment clear in every rise and fall of the dead land. The dullness of brown and grey only interfered by green specks of nature.Plants growing through fissures of broken cars.Ivy raking over hollow and slumped buildings.Weeds spreading through the cracks in the asphalt.Nature that had begun reclaiming its ground after everything went to hell.It would be beautiful, wouldn't it be so terribly cruel.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptH60ktLqBM)

_"Is it worse if we invented sadness or if it was here all along waiting for the earth to grow a creature capable of detecting it."_

_Kimmy Walters_

 

* * *

 

 

Overthrown cars. Old litter everywhere you looked. Abandonment clear in every rise and fall of the dead land. The dullness of brown and grey only interfered by green specks of nature.

Plants growing through fissures of broken cars.

Ivy raking over hollow and slumped buildings.

Weeds spreading through the cracks in the asphalt.

Nature that had begun reclaiming its ground after everything went to hell.

 

It would be beautiful, wouldn't it be so terribly cruel.

 

* * *

 

 

That is the only sign of life you'll find here.

If you don't count the rotting walking corpses tearing their teeth into flesh the moment they see it, or better, smell it, that is.

And the few people left, that still have enough sense not to find cannibalism tempting. But sense, unfortunately, is not very common these days. 

Neil can't remember what the world was like before it all went to hell. What it was like not to live in constant fear, checking your surroundings everywhere you went, running as soon as there was the smallest sign of danger.

He and his mum had been on the run since his father had been turned, when it all began, eight years ago. His mother had taught him how to survive in the mess that was now the world they lived in. They had always been very cautious to steer clear of groups that were intent on finding survivors, claiming bigger numbers would've an advantage. Neil and his mother knew better.

People slowed you down. Were unnecessary ballast you could grow attached to, which was way too dangerous in times like this, where people were turned or eaten left and right.

The apocalypse had set in and it hadn't taken long before more than two thirds of humanity had been erased. The zombies hadn't even been the beginning.

It had started with a disease that had spread too fast to contain and was too vicious to be held at bay by some pathetic attempts at cures. The disease had wiped one third of humanity in less than a month. That was before the dead had learned to walk.

When news had started spreading, people panicked. Left their homes in a rush, planned to cross the ocean, hoping to find shelter somewhere, anywhere. But there was nowhere save anymore. The disease started as a simple fever, that made you break into cold sweats and coughs. After one week the uncontrollable shivering started setting in and the numbing of limbs. Nosebleeds were common too or the white of the eyes turning red from burst blood vessels. Coughed up blood appeared at one of the last stages.

That was when you knew it was bad. Very bad.

Many people then took their own lives, knowing there was no salvaging them anymore, and not wanting to turn into the grotesque shadows of once human beings.

But the ones that were too afraid or simply unwilling to take their own lives, stubbornly continued on their ways, turning or dying, or in some, but fery few cases, surviving.

There was no cure. There were only immunes. And those were damn rare. And Neil was one of them. He had survived the fever and so had his mother. His father though... he hadn't been that lucky, considering you would call staying alive in this nightmare _luck._

When Nathan had turned and Mary had killed that son of a bitch right after, there had been no tears, no grief. Nathan had never been family to either of them.

And so Neil and Mary had taken all the necessary things to survive and fled into the night.

Neil could still remember the unnatural quiet of the night they had stepped out into.

A kind of silence that was defeaning and so so wrong.

A kind of silence that had only appeared after the apocalypse had begun.

Mary had been the one dragging him along, pushing him forward, a reassuring presence at his back. His mother had never been gentle but Neil never wanted her to be. She was fierce and she was brave, she was devoted to her son and she would do everything to keep him alive.

So when she had been bitten, Neil's world, what was left of it, crumbled into nothingness.

He had killed the undead bastard, but it had been too late.

With a grim resolve, Mary had pushed her knife into Neil's hand and locked eyes with him. He knew what he had to do but he couldn't. He couldn't he couldn't he couldn-

' _Listen_   _to_   _me_ ,' she had rasped. ' _You_ _know_ _how_ _to_ _do this, how to survive. I taught you everything_ _and I_   _taught_   _you_   _to_ _be_ _strong_. _So_ _be_ _strong_. _For_ _both_ _of_ _us_.'

 With that she had grabbed Neil's hand still holding the knife and thrust it into her stomach. A grim weak smile danced on Mary's lips that were painted in red when she coughed up blood. Neil let out a pained sob.

' _You_ _are_ _my_   _son,_ ' she had whispered with her last strength, holding his neck down to her with a fierce grip and leaning her forehead against his. ' _You_ _are_ _going_   _to_   _survive_.' And with that she had slumped and collapsed against him. Lifeless.

Neil's knees gave up under him and he collapsed to the ground, still holding his mother in his arms.

A cry tore his throat open and hot tears streamed down his face.

When everything had started breaking down around Neil, he had not paid much attention to it. As long as Neil remembered, the world had always been collapsing around him.

But now, that the only thing that had kept him afloat, the person he had loved the most, who gave all of her to protect him, was gone, he noticed the damage around him. In him.

His mother had been his anchor, his compass. And now that she was gone he felt utterly disoriented.

He was lost.

 


	2. Chapter 2

" _I think hell is something you carry around with. Not somewhere you go."_

_Neil Gaiman_

 

* * *

 

 

Andrew wandered through the aisles of the old supermarket, fluorescent lights flickering above him, illuminating shelves one second and casting them in shadow the next. How the electricity still worked even a bit after all this time was a mystery to him.

He walked briskly and searched the shelves for something useful. Most of them were nearly empty, having been victim to all the desperate people searching for anything edible, since most are not very keen on starving to death usually. But after eight years of destruction and chaos it became increasingly difficult to find anything left behind in any of the abandoned supermarkets.

Andrew crouched down and picked up a couple of candy bars that have slipped beneath the shelf, and discarded them immediately as soon as he saw what he had grabbed. He still wanted to keep his teeth, thanks very much.

He wandered further into the supermarket and arrived at the section for household necessities, packing some crumpled matches, a dusty blanket, and to his great surprise he was pleased to find a pocketknife and some bandages as well. He couldn't fathom why anyone would have left that behind and would have gone in favour of beer instead, noticing bemusedly that all the shelves holding alcohol were as good as empty. People. Stupid as they come.

Having gone through the aisles a couple of times, Andrew was certain he had picked up everything useful that was left behind, and made for the exit.

Andrew stepped out of the building and walked straight for the car where he knew the others were waiting in.

The parking lot was blessedly empty otherwise. He walked past discarded cars and turned over shopping carts, stepping over long dried specks of blood.

Everything was covered in a sheet of dirt and ashes. There were many bodies to burn since the apocalypse had begun and the air had been heavily polluted by the smell of burned flesh and falling ashes.

Andrew arrived at the car and went to the driver's side, closing the door behind him and throwing his backpack over his shoulder without even a glance back, which elicited a yelp from the back row.

"Look where you're throwing, would you?" grumbled Nicky, Andrew answered by flipping him off. Nicky huffed indignantly.

"Found anything?" came from Aaron, already having taken the backpack from Nicky and going through its contents, furrowing his brows when he had gone through it all. "Nothing edible again."

Andrew's fingers itched for a cigarette. "Not much to find these days."

"Are we absolutely certain we have already been to all possible options in this area?" asked Aaron.

"I've already told you." Andrew answered bored.

Kevin who was sitting in the passenger seat and had been silent until then finally perked up and turned around to face the back row first and then Andrew. "I told you we have to move to the next city." Nicky groaned. "I am so sick of driving in this car, I don't know if I can stand another hour in it."

Kevin shot him an annoyed look. "Stop being a baby." Nicky gave him the finger.

"No, Kevin's right." said Andrew. "Chances are we will just starve here. We'll have to keep moving." Nicky groaned again but didn't argue and Aaron gave his approval by nodding once.

So they were on the road again.

Andrew drove past abandoned houses and overgrown front lawns, discarded bikes and cars. He drove through the suburbs and onto the high way.

 

* * *

 

 

Neil had survived this last year, but just barely.

Without his mother there, surviving had become infinitely harder. But he still remembered what his mother had taught him, how they had survived together, so he managed.

He was trailing a deer's traces, when he suddenly heard a car rushing past.

It's been months since he last had been near other humans. His first instinct was to run in the opposite direction of where he had heard the car. He was running out of supplies though, and if he wanted to survive he'd have to join a group soon.

Every nerve in his body had screamed against the idea, his distrust ingrained too deeply.

He just couldn't bring himself to trust people blindly that he didn't know.

He knew he'd just run without a glance back at a sign of danger. He had managed a year without his mother already, he could do this.

The forest path he was walking on was littered in leaves and acorns. Neil picked up the acorns, which he could roast over fire later. The deer he had been trailing earlier had been spooked and flewn probably at the sound of the car driving past. He sighed and kept searching.

 

* * *

 

 

They were driving past a forest, when Andrew got an idea.

He parked along the side of the road and stopped the car.

"Why are we stopping?" Nicky asked, peering out of the windows.

"Food" Andrew simply said.

Aaron and Nicky exchanged a glance.

There weren't a lot of forests in the state, so hunting hadn't really been an option to get their food from. There was also the problem of how. Andrew had some experience, having been taken a couple of times with one of his foster fathers. Their little group had been together for three years now, and they had managed by raiding homes and supermarkets they had come upon.But now that they weren't finding much anymore it was time to consider other options. 

"So I'm assuming you know how to hunt?" Aaron had asked part mocking, part sincere curiosity. 

Andrew held up his favourite knife for them to see. It was long and slender, with rigged edges on one side. He'd rather part with one of his organs before he'd part with this knife.

Nicky's eyes grew wide and Aaron only acknowledged the knife with a raised eyebrow. Credit to Kevin for showing no reaction at all. 

It wasn't like they had never seen it. Andrew had stabbed not that few dead walking things with and without their help. The thing they were all rather curious about though was how Andrew planned to catch something with it.

Despite their apparent doubts nobody questioned Andrew about this, having already learned not to do that mistake a few years prior. 

"I'm going to lay a trap first and all we'll have to do is wait for something to get caught in it." 

When he was out of the car and the others started to follow him, he stopped them with a dismissive hand wave. "I'm going to go alone, I don't need you to scare our only chance at food off." 

"But-"

"No. You are going to keep watch and at any sign of danger Kevin will follow me into the forest to alert me." He glanced at Kevin to make sure he got that. Kevin answered with a nod. 

Nicky looked like he might have said more but was cut off by another vicious glare from Andrew.

Andrew made sure all his knifes were on him and grabbed a rope from the trunk of the car.

He stepped into the forest in measured steps, almost silent on his feet. 

The forest was quiet, and somehow... peaceful.

It almost seemed as if the apocalypse had never even happened or just didn't reach here. 

Untouched by humans the forest seemed to be flourishing. The green of the trees was lush and thick, sunshine filtered through the gaps of the tree crowns and the quiet was only disturbed by the occasional flapping of wings or bird chirping. It seemed almost as if the animals of the forest were celebrating the end of humanity. 

Andrew walked deeper into the forest until he couldn't see the car anymore. He gripped the rope in his hands and got to work. 

He remembered where every sling and knot was supposed to be, despite it having been years since he had been shown how to do it, so he managed a perfectly secured trap when he was finished. 

He walked over to a tree a couple of feet away from his trap and sat back against it and waited.

 

* * *

 

Neil thought he had heard something. 

He looked around. Nothing. 

Probably just a rushing of leaves or birds. 

There again and then gone. 

And then... Footsteps? 

He crouched behind a tree and looked around again. His heart hammered in his chest and he had taken out his knife without noticing, gripping it hard now. 

He couldn't have imagined the rustling just now could he have?

Then suddenly, something behind him. 

Neil whirled and sprang to his feet in one fluid motion, his knife extended before him and already running straight into what he assumed would be just another rotting brain eater. 

He came to an abrupt halt right before he would have impaled the other one. He was inches away from him, and found himself staring into melten brown eyes which seemed to shine almost gold in the light filtering through the trees down on them. 

Brown eyes. Not blind unseeing eyes drowned in red, result of countless burst blood vessels, which marked the dead ones. 

His hand, which still gripped the knife tightly didn't lower though. 

Despite the relief of seeing another human after such a long time, his ingrained distrust didn't allow him to lower his guard for a second. His last encounter with humans hadn't been the most pleasant one and had left a sour taste in his mouth. 

But Neil did take a couple of steps back, cursing himself immediately because he now was backed against the trunk of the tree he had crouched behind earlier.

He noticed the other man held a knife in his hand as well but he held it relaxed at his side, as if certain Neil couldn't pose a threat to him. Neil bristled despite himself. 

They regarded each other for a couple of moments until Neil finally couldn't stand the quiet. "What do you want?"

A raised eyebrow was apparently the only answer he would get. Neil got ready to lunge again when the other man finally started talking. "Where is your group?" 

Neil regarded him with a blank stare until he answered "I have none." Raised eyebrow. 

"You are out here alone? You got a death wish or something?"

"It's easier without people slowing you down."

He glanced at Neil, probably seeing skin and bones and ragged clothes. "You sure of that?" Neil had the urge to punch him. 

"And who could you be for judging me for being on my own? I don't see anyone around you either."

"They are waiting for me outside." 

"Uh-huh." He got the eyebrow again. 

"You can see for yourself if you don't believe me." 

Neil considered this. He knew he would have better chances by joining a group. But could he trust them? No of course he couldn't, he didn't know them, and he didn't trust anyone.

But maybe he'd just take a couple of supplies from them and be on his way again without them ever noticing. That was a plan at least.

"Alright then, mysterious man, take me to your group." Neil finally said mockingly. 

"Oh where are my manners, I'm Andrew. And you are?"

"Neil."

"Well then Neil, follow me." Andrew turned away from him and started walking just to turn back again and clap his hands as if he had forgotten something. 

"Oh I almost forgot, I've still got to slay a deer."

Well that wasn't weird at all, Neil thought. 

Andrew began to walk in the direction of some thicker trees, when Neil heard a rustling. He braced himself with his knife hand extended once again, but when they drew nearer he discovered that the rustling came from a deer caught in a rope, struggling to get free.

"And that right there is going to be our dinner." 

 

* * *

 

When they arrived at the car, Kevin was the first one to see them, since he was leaning against the car, looking out at the forest, and froze when he saw Andrew approaching with someone in tow. 

Andrew walked a couple of feet until he noticed his guest had stopped walking. 

He looked back to see Neil staring at Kevin. 

He looked back to Kevin and saw he looked just as shell-shocked. Andrew raised an eyebrow at both of them. 

Kevin was the first one to break the silence. "Nathaniel?" he asked incredulously. 

Neil just kept staring. 

"So _Neil,_ either you've got several names or somwthing or you lied to me. I sure hope for you it wasn't the latter since I really don't enjoy being lied to." 

Neil slowly turned to him, still watching Kevin but then moving his eyes to Andrew. 

"I didnt lie. I haven't used that name in ages." 

"You gonna tell me how you two know each other?" 

Neil turned back to staring at Kevin and when it was apparent that he waited for Kevin to say something, Kevin answered "We played together at little leagues."

In that moment Nicky chose to jump out of the car.

"Andrew! What a hottie you got us there! As delicious as it looks I fear I might not be able to eat that. Maybe I'll just have a small bite." He said this with a wink to Neil, which made him recoil.

Aaron who had followed the conversation from the car now stepped out and threw his cousin a vicious glare. "First human we've seen in literally years and you can't even keep it in your pants for one second? Fucking gross."

Nicky threw up his hands and tried to look innocent. "Have you seen him? I mean can you blame me? I'm sure you doubted for a second there if you're really straight after seeing him."

Aaron looked even more disgusted.  He shook his head and retreated back into the car. 

"See! You can't even deny it!" Nicky shouted after him. Aaron flipped him off through the window. 

Poor Neil looked so utterly confused. 

Andrew decided to take pity on him and before Nicky could say any more stupid shit, Andrew said "I brought us dinner. And I dont mean this human being right beside me, which by the way is Neil." 

Nicky looked elated and threw himself onto Neil, offering him a hand which Neil refused to take. Nicky seemed unbothered by that rudeness. "I'm Nicky! Nice to meet you Neil. That grumpy back in the car is Aaron. And I'm assuming you already know Kevin? From the looks of it?" He looked confused and whipped his head side to side to look at Neil and Kevin in turns. 

Andrew waved his arms around. "No happy tearful reuniting? Okay good, let's move on, since the introductions are made. Neil here is going to be part of our wonderful group from this moment on." This at least got a reaction.

Neil whipped his head so fast Andrew wondered why he had heard no bones crack. Kevin's head had moved almost as fast.

Through the open door of the backseat Aaron stared hard at his twin. Nicky was the only one seeming genuinely happy by their new addition. 

"I'm starving. Let's get this deer skinned and roasted, I'm definitely not going to do that alone." Andrew said, completely untouched by the tension in the air. 

Neil seemed to get to his senses then. "What? I haven't even agreed to join you. Why should I trust you? I don't even know you." 

Andrew turned a bored look at him. "You're alone in the middle of nowhere, during the apocalypse, no supplies on you, you look like you haven't eaten anything in weeks and you sway like you are very close to collapsing. You want me to go on?"

Neil bristled but didn't deny any of what he had said.

He seemed to battle with himself for a few moments before sighing heavily and saying "Fine. I'll join you. But that doesn't mean I trust you."

"How unbelievably sad", Andrew said flatly.  "Neil, Kevin and I are going to take care of the deer. Nicky and Aaron will be holding watch."

Despite them not being as much of skin and bone as Neil was, they hadn't eaten anything proper in weeks either and were desperate to get something fresh and nutritious to eat for once. A real meal for once. 

It sounded like a dream. 

But when they arrived at the spot Andrew had left the deer at, it was gone.


End file.
